Conference
Join us at the 2023 Making Schools Work Conference
Join us in Orlando, Florida, July 18-21, 2023, for an unforgettable professional development event and share your strategies, struggles and successes during four days of learning, collaborating and networking. Educators can participate in hundreds of sessions on topics like addressing the effects of poverty and trauma and ensuring equitable access to quality instruction, wherever teaching and learning takes place. Take home actionable strategies to advance your K-12 school improvement efforts and raise student achievement.
Learn with the leading experts in your field
Christian Moore
Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Youth Advocate
Christian Moore is an internationally-renowned speaker, licensed clinical social worker and advocate for youth. He is also the author of The Resilience Breakthrough: 27 Tools for Turning Adversity into Action.
Moore found his passion in social work and created the WhyTry Program, a social-emotional learning program that delivers tools and training to help educators change students from unmotivated to engaged, from failing to graduates, and from hopeless to resilient. WhyTry has been implemented in over 25,000 organizations.
Joe and Dardi Hendershott
Co-founders, Hope 4 The Wounded, LLC
Joe Hendershott, co-founder of Hope 4 The Wounded, LLC, has an extensive background working with at-risk and wounded youth as a teacher, coach and administrator in traditional, alternative and correctional education settings.
Hendershott has served as a high school assistant principal, head principal, alternative school principal and principal at a residential facility.
Phyllis Donatto
Founder and CEO, FTH Dimension Solutions
Phyllis Donatto is the founder and CEO of FTH Dimension Solutions, LLC, an executive leadership coaching and consulting firm specializing in empowerment solutions for team and personal growth. Her life’s work is to equip and empower leaders to lead by building cohesive teams while cultivating a thriving culture that impacts and inspires others to be their best selves.
A first-generation college graduate, Donatto holds a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, a Master’s in Reading and a Doctorate of Education in Curriculum and Instruction with a cognate in Administration and Supervision from the University of Louisiana, Monroe. She also holds a Master’s in Theological Studies from the Houston Graduate School of Theology in Houston, Texas, and certification in Executive Leadership Coaching from Paradigm 360 Coaching, an accredited coaching program, in Charlotte, NC.
Donatto believes that relationships matter, and how we treat one another directly influences and impacts a person’s value, self-worth and ability to thrive. She also believes that strong relationships among adult teams can positively impact student achievement.
FTH Dimension Solutions emphasizes
designing a learning culture that links individuals through their
shared and different experiences. Assisting teams to become more
self-aware of their behaviors and how these behaviors impact
others – while learning to recognize, celebrate and connect with
others – is the bridge that leads to safe, positive and empowered
teams.
Donatto’s approach is simple: She provides the necessary strategies and tools to connect students and adults by facilitating experiences that promote effective problem-solving techniques and improve personal and professional interactions. Donatto lives to encourage and support others as they seek to become the best version of themselves in service, first to themselves and then to others. She has been referred to by many as a “Hope-ologist.” Donatto is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She is married to her “gift,” Damond Paul Donatto, and they have one son, Ronald.
Robert Jackson
Robert Jackson Consulting
Robert Jackson began his teaching career almost 25 years ago in Indianapolis Public Schools after being cut from the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings with a “no more excuses” teaching approach that set high expectations for his students and challenged them to not let their personal circumstances define their futures.
Jackson’s goal is to teach educators and administrators how to use their power more effectively to educate, activate and motivate all students to be successful. His own students have gone on to become successful pastors, lawyers, school administrators, teachers, sales reps, business owners, pro athletes, entertainers and more.
As a highly sought-after speaker,
Jackson delivers keynotes and workshops nationwide to educators,
administrators, parents and students on such topics as cultural
diversity, restorative practices, social and emotional learning,
working with students who have experienced trauma and educating
Black and Latino males.
Jackson has written and published numerous books and articles, including Black Men Stand Up, A Boy’s Guide to Manhood, A Young Woman’s Guide to Womanhood, Put a Stop to Bullying and Solutions to Educating Black and Latino Males.
His newest book, Becoming the Educator They Need: Strategies, Mindsets, and Beliefs for Supporting Male Black and Latino Students, won the Gold Excel Award for Technical Writing in July 2020.
Jackson has received numerous awards for his work, including the NOBLE Justice by Action Youth Award, the Key to the City of Miami, Florida, and the 2019 National Motivational Educator of the Year Award by the Alpha Foundation.
He is a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and the NFL Players Association.
Jackson holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial technology from Western Kentucky University.
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